Deadbeat Judge Jails Responsible Father
In an astounding demonstration of just how stupid, unfair and contemptuous of children our child support laws are, a father who co-operatively shares equal care of his children with their mother was yesterday jailed for failing to pay child maintenance, despite her protests.
The jail sentence was opposed by the child's mother and the children, who were present at the hearing. The mother had told the court that if he was imprisoned she would have to give up her job to look after the children full-time, and she was in tears on hearing the sentence.
The father, Michael Cox, shares care of his three children in an arrangement that has worked well for them for years. But as he cares (and pays) for the children for 50% of the time, he does not see why he should owe child support to the mother, who has them for the other 50%. After all, he pays for them when they are with him, why should he have to pay again when they are with their mother?
The Child 'Support' Agency can hardly be claiming to 'support' the children having sent a perfectly responsible and caring father to jail, deprived the children of their father against their wishes and reduced the income of both parents. But even so, they still expect a father with equal care of three children to pay 11% of his income to the mother.
But one has to wonder, especially because they share care equally, how can the CSA simply assume that this income will be better spent by the mother than the father? Surely, anything the father earns is just as likely to benefit the children as anything the mother earns?
Indeed, the CSA rules are so mixed up, that even a father who cared for three children for 364 days a year would still have to pay 4% of his income to the mother. But what would this money be for? Why would having children for just one day cost so much?
Of course, this unfair nonsense is just the tip of the iceberg of a completely failed CSA. It's hardly any wonder the CSA fails both the children it purports to support and the nation's taxpayers.
With a net cost of £200 million per year, incredibly, even if the entire CSA staff were sent on holiday all year on full pay AND the government simply made all the payments directly to the resident parents THEN the country would still save £200 million pounds in each and every year!
The CSA itself is soon to be replaced by the equally unfit for purpose CSA Mark II (or C-MEC as the government like to call it) which will repeat (and compound) all the mistakes made by the CSA, and add some new ones to boot.
The government fails to realise that, if the CSA has any chance of working, it has to be seen to be fair and not to simply penalise non-resident parents. We need new thinking, not just increased enforcement of an already failed approach. We need a system which encourages shared parenting - and certainly not one which jails parents who practice it.
Our children deserve no less.
